Quelle horreur! France’s political triple-threat

Since the Socialist Party came to power in 2012, French politics has never appeared more unstable and unpredictable.

Here's a quick look at the latest troubles the country's politicians have found themselves in.

A ruling party adrift…

The troubles of the ruling Socialist Party (PS) and Francois Hollande, the party's first President in nearly 20 years, have led to an increasingly disillusioned electorate. The administration has come under attack from its critics for its perceived amateurism and indecisiveness. Hollande's approval ratings have kept on falling and, according to IFOP, stood at 30 percent on May 15th.

But more worryingly for the party, the growing discontentment has seen it lose a massive amount of votes. In both the local and European elections the PS was unable to the slow the shift to the right, losing its leadership in many of France's biggest cities and coming in third in the European elections behind the far-right Front National and the opposition UMP.

The election results have "greatly weakened the authority of the government", Douglas Webber, professor of Political Science at Insead told CNBC by phone. And it is now under "enormous pressure" to bring about change, especially in the labor market.

"It foretells three difficult years for the PS", Bruno Cautres, researcher at the Centre for Political Sciences Research told CNBC by phone.

…. While scandals rock the opposition's boat

However, the main opposition party, the UMP, has not exactly benefited from the Socialists' slow descent. While the party took back many town halls in the local elections, it trailed behind the Front National in the European ones.

After Nicolas Sarkozy's defeat in 2012 and his retirement from politics, the UMP was first rocked by internal infighting and then by successive scandals.

The UMP is "in a pitiful state as it's wrecked by deep internal conflicts" explained Webber.

"The two existential problems for the UMP are its leadership and its program", said Cautres, adding that the uncertainty over whether Nicolas Sarkozy will make a comeback continuously weakens the leadership.

After the scandal which exposed that some of President Sarkozy's meeting were secretly recorded, the UMP is now embroiled in a fraud investigation. Jean-Francois Copé, accused of giving communication contracts to long-term allies and friends, announced its resignation from the leadership of the party on Tuesday, potentially opening the door to more infighting between the main three contenders to succeed him.

The biggest winner of these past two years has been the far-right, anti-EU Front National party led by Marine Le Pen. Under her leadership, the party came in third in the 2012 president election, cemented its credibility by winning big in local elections, and then unleashed a "political earthquake" in the European ones.

While many of the FN vote is a protest against the establishment "the support for her propositions is progressing" explained Cautres. And so is her popularity.

Marine Le Pen's approval rating may remain low - at 34 percent according to a BVA survey published on May 12 – it is one of the few that has positively progressed over the past three years, gaining 5 basis points since February 2011.

Judging from current trend, "Marine Le Pen is going to be a far more credible, far more dangerous candidate at the presidential election," said Webber and should she get to the second round opposite a left-wing candidate, the result could be a lot closer and uncertain than if she were to face a moderate-right candidate.

However, there are still three years until the next presidential elections. Which leaves ample time for both the PS and UMP to address their issues – and plenty of opportunity for further scandals and pratfalls.